Luke 15:1-10
On 9/11, many demonstrated extraordinary courage and risked their lives to save other. One such person was the man in the red bandana.
When hijacked Flight 175 hit the World Trade Center’s South Tower, people on the 78th floor sky lobby huddled together, frightened. There was no apparent escape. Then, a man with a red bandana covering his nose and mouth appeared from the wreckage and smoke. He spoke in a calm voice and guided them to a stairway, leading them to safety. The man in the red bandana made 3 trips to the lobby, saving as many as he could until the burning building collapsed.
A few months later, stories from survivors surfaced about the mysterious man wearing the red bandana. When Alison Crowther read about it in the New York Times, she knew it was her son, 24-year-old Welles. He had carried a red handkerchief since he was a boy. He was a volunteer firefighter.
One found by Welles said, “People can live 100 years and not have the compassion, the where- withal to do what he did.” His bandana is on display in the Museum.
On this day we remember those like the man with the red bandana who searched carefully and diligently for those huddled in fear. And, if we follow Jesus’ parables, we should pause to rejoice with all those who were found and saved.
Jesus, in today’ lesson, told parables of people searching. Consider how a sheep hunkers down in fear when lost, making it even harder to find, and how a coin has a way of rolling into a dusty corner of a hidden crack, and it doesn’t shine brighter on its own in order to be found! Neither the sheep nor the coin can do anything on their own to get out of their predicament. It rests on the One who goes after the lost, who seeks diligently until found.
Jesus showed his muttering critics, for our benefit, our God as the True Hero of the fearful and lost, whose angels rejoice over a returning sinner.
I say returning because Jesus uses a word-play. On one hand, the helpless sheep and coin are found and returned with rejoicing, and the sinner returns to God, in a sense returning to his or her right mind. In the both instances, Jesus puts God’s amazing grace on display. God passionately desires to restore the fold to wholeness, and for friends to come together to rejoice in good news.
Despite criticism and cynicism we hear these day about church, I suspect you find that the church we share in Jesus has blessed you and made your life more complete. Whenever we come together for worship and prayer, food and fellowship, isn’t there something wholesome about it, something that feels “found” in the midst of a world that has lost its way?
This is a biblical basis behind having a church picnic, a special time to call friends and neighbors together, saying, “Rejoice with me! God wants us to be together, the fold again complete; the coin returned to its proper place, probably part of a wedding necklace with 10 coins, a symbol of joy.
Think about this in the weeks to come. When we have much going on, like World Communion – not to leave out that Sunday school will resume on the 25th, Bible study on the 28th – and the other opportunities we’ve advertised, these are opportunities to call friends and neighbors and invite them, for heaven and God’s angels rejoice when God’s grace proves to be so amazing!